KUIU Bino Harness and Rangefinder Pouch Modifications

Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Messages
352
I'm certainly nowhere near the DIY level of most guys on this forum. That being said, I guarantee if I can do it, you can do it... enough of the motivational talk though, here's my mod descriptions.

One thing that bothered me about the KUIU bino harness was when I wanted to glass from a tripod, I had to remove the entire chest rig, or unclip the binoculars and hope the attachment points didn't slide over the top of my shoulders (in which most cases they did and I ended up taking off the whole rig). To alleviate this, I ordered another set of the clips (both male in my case), which are the clips generally attached to the binoculars. They came with the webbing/ end loop (grey plastic piece sewn through the webbing) to secure them to the binos.

Using my trusty Havalon blade and a whisky with coke to steady the hand and ease the nerve of cutting into my harness, I made a small incision through the double layer section of the bino harness, near the same elevation as the existing clips as they sat while the binos were in the harness. I did this to attempt to have a similar amount of tension whether the shoulder straps were clipped to the binos or clipped to my secondary male attachment points. After the cuts were made and another sip from my libation, I ran the webbing from the inside to the outside and secured the male clips.
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(Above image: binos secured as originally designed. You can see my added clips on each side of the harness)

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(Above image: closer look at the grey plastic piece ran through the inside to prevent the new clips from coming through the bino case fabric)

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(Above image: closer look at the outside cut and securing of the male clip)

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(Above image: the shoulder straps attached to the newly added clips, allowing one to remove the binos completely from the harness, put them back, without removing the entire harness setup)

Presto! Now no more removing the harness. I've been running this during scouting and now for a few archery deer outings and can say it makes no difference which attachment point the shoulder straps are clipped into. No tears or other issues to date either.

Now for the rangefinder pouch modification... the KUIU rangefinder pouch is a great addition. I was previously running an FHF one jimmy-rigged on in a similar fashion. The KUIU pouch is much more secure though. The one downside was I struggled to get my RF out efficiently... it was awkward to get a hold of and I constantly had to shift it in my hand to get my finger on the function button to range something. To alleviate that, I cut about 1 1/2" down both the front and back fabric, folded it to the inside and hot glued it. An excess of whisky and coke may have played a role in the unsightly butcher job, so I advise you undertake this mod early in the night for a cleaner look. I also advise maybe only removing 1" of fabric. I haven't had any issues, and I hunt with the cover flap tucked out of the way, but the cutting of 1 1/2" seems to have compromised some of the structural integrity of the pouch, causing the face of the pouch to lean out a bit more than it did originally. Nonetheless, I can now grab the RF with my finger on the button, as I pull it from the pouch... no more fumbling or bumbling.

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(Above image: view of the modified/ cut portion along the bottom of the RF)

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(Above image: view of the cut portion, showing where I can now grab the RF with my finger already on the button, as it is removed from the pouch)

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(Above image: inside of the RF pouch, showing the cuts down each side, folding the fabric inward and then gluing)

I hope someone is able to find one or both of these mods helpful! Also, I copyright both of these and will accept nothing less than 12.5% royalties if incorporated into future KUIU productions. Best of luck on your 2017 adventures...


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Last edited:

nexus

FNG
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
79
I just returned from my archery deer season and these two issues, although minor, are clear design flaws in the Kuiu harness and range finder combo for western style hunting. The shoulder straps falling while glassing from a tripod will drive one crazy after a day or two on the mountain. Thanks for giving me some ideas on the fixes.
 

deadwolf

WKR
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,498
Location
Anchorage, AK
If Kuiu would just make the bino connection female/male on one side and male/female on the other side, you could just clip the two together when you move your glass to your tripod and clip the two from the harness back together around your neck. I’ve been meaning to look at doing this to mine but have been ahem....lazy


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MT_Wyatt

WKR
Joined
Aug 20, 2014
Messages
1,919
Location
Montana
If Kuiu would just make the bino connection female/male on one side and male/female on the other side, you could just clip the two together when you move your glass to your tripod and clip the two from the harness back together around your neck. I’ve been meaning to look at doing this to mine but have been ahem....lazy


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? Mine is that way. Although I hate clipping the harness around my neck, chokes me. And I wear the thing pretty high. Do you have an older one?


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OP
x.enigmatic.x
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Messages
352
Correct. The older ones are both male on the bino side... newer ones are flip-flopped connections as MT_Wyatt described.


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deadwolf

WKR
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
2,498
Location
Anchorage, AK
Mine are both male on the bino side as well

Edit: I’ll be damned, when I got new binos I had to get a new XL Kuiu bino harness to fit them, and when I got home this am and looked at it, mine has a male opposite a female. I had never noticed after only using it in two hunts.


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Last edited:

#1antler

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 19, 2015
Messages
252
I purchased a Kuiu bino harness several years ago and immediately saw the problem with removing binos to place on tripod. I contacted Kuiu to get additional hardware to modify my harness. Their response was the hardware wasn't available and generally seemed disinterested. I went with FHF after that and have not looked back
 
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